Easy magic chocolate shell ice cream recipe
Create a crackly, chocolatey magic shell at home for your ice cream.
Problem Solved
Just in time for summer, ice cream shops are expanding in Music City. Each scoop of ice cream comes with a twist from boozy ice cream to vegan flavors.
At least five national or local ice cream shop chains are expanding throughout the Nashville area, bringing their version of the frozen treat to more people.
Two of the new locations opened last month and the others are coming soon to areas across the city. The ice cream shops present customers with a wide variety of flavors to choose from that use ingredients including booze, local strawberries, and more.
Tipsy Scoop
At Tipsy Scoop at 512 Lea Avenue in SoBro, ice cream combines with liquor to create a new twist on traditional flavors such as vanilla bean bourbon and spiked mint chocolate chip.
Tipsy Scoop began in New York City in 2014 as one of the first alcohol-infused ice cream shops and opened its first store in 2017. It now has 11 stores open or opening this year around the country.
“The ice cream is infused with alcohol,” said Rekina Gibson, co-owner of the Nashville Tipsy Scoop location. “It’s actually 5% alcohol by volume. Not only do we have the ice cream infused with alcohol, but we also have these special drinks that we make, which makes it unique.”
The boozy ice cream shop opened May 9 and, in addition to ice cream, offers mixology classes each month. Instead of a cup or cone, customers can order a flight of four different flavors, or sundaes that come with a free Tipsy Scoop glass.
“I think the volume of customers that we see every day and the response from the reviews has just been amazing,” Gibson said. “I’m really happy we chose Nashville. I don’t know that we could have chosen a better location.”
Van Leeuwen Ice Cream
Van Leeuwen Ice Cream brought its traditional and vegan ice cream to Nashville in March with its first location in Edgehill Village, then again in May, with its second location in the Gulch.
“We’ve been blown away by the response in Nashville since opening in Edgehill Village,” said Ben Van Leeuwen, co-founder and CEO of Van Leeuwen, in a news release. “We can’t wait to open in the Gulch. We love being part of neighborhoods where great food is already happening.”
Van Leeuwen’s Gulch location offers over 30 flavors such as black cherry chip and also serves custom sundaes, ice cream sandwiches and milkshakes. Some of the store’s vegan ice cream flavors are strawberry shortcake and peanut butter brownie honeycomb.
Founded in New York in 2008 as an ice cream truck, Van Leeuwen’s serves French-style ice cream and now has more than 70 locations across the country. The store plans to open a third Nashville location in Germantown.
Hattie Jane’s Creamery
Local Hattie Jane’s Creamery is also expanding to its fifth location. Hattie Jane’s began in an empty space next to Puckett’s in Columbia, a restaurant owned by the family of Hattie Jane’s founder and CEO Claire Crowell.
The idea for Hattie Jane’s came when Crowell’s first daughter, Hattie Jane, was born.
“We kept saying we have to do something with that name. It’s so cute,” Crowell said. “It jokingly turned into, ‘gosh, it’d be a really cute ice cream store name.’ Then we thought, well, we have a space we love. Our family outing and family dessert growing up was ice cream. It went from something we were joking about to how can we do that.”
All of Hattie Jane’s ice cream is made locally and Crowell said the flavors are largely based on Southern traditions.
“I say we have at least seven generations in Tennessee, so we love to layer in Tennessee flavors,” Crowell said. “The sweet corn and blackberry jam is always really popular, and that is made with Tennessee sweet corn. The Tennessee strawberries and cream, which we have out right now for a little bit longer, we utilize Tennessee strawberries and we only do it in season.”
Hattie Jane’s newest location will be at 2300 Riverside Avenue in East Nashville because, according to Crowell, the area is underserved and has a lot of families. Crowell said she hopes the new location will open before the end of the summer.
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams is set to open its 10th location in the Nashville area in 2026. The new store will be located in Peabody Union, a new development in downtown.
Jeni’s makes its ice cream with milk from family dairy farms, according to the company’s website, and the ice cream is still made by following founder Jeni Britton’s original recipe. Jeni’s offers dairy and gluten free options, as well as a variety of flavors including and Brambleberry Crisp.
Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream
Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream is also coming to Nashville with a new location at Nashville Yards. The homemade ice cream chain started in 1945 in Ohio and has two other locations in Middle Tennessee.
